In mid-March, child safety organizations across the country received a polished email from something called the Parents & Kids Safe AI Coalition. The pitch was simple: endorse a list of principles for AI regulation, including age verification, parental controls, and ad targeting restrictions. Standard stuff. Who could say no?

Turns out, plenty of people can say no once they find out the whole thing was secretly created and entirely funded by OpenAI. The SF Standard reports that multiple nonprofits had no idea Sam Altman's company was behind the coalition asking for their endorsement, and at least two original members have already pulled out after learning the truth.

"It's a very grimy feeling," one nonprofit leader told The Standard, requesting anonymity for fear of repercussions. "To find out they're trying to sneak around behind the scenes and do something like this. I don't want to say they're outright lying, but they're sending emails that are pretty misleading."

The Playbook

Here is what OpenAI did. The company co-sponsored a child safety ballot initiative in California, then created a coalition whose stated principles conveniently mirrored the policies OpenAI wants the California Legislature to adopt. Then it went recruiting nonprofits to endorse those principles, creating the appearance of broad grassroots support for what is functionally OpenAI's regulatory wishlist.

This is textbook astroturfing. You create a group that looks organic, staff it with legitimate organizations, and then point to it as evidence that "the community" supports your position. The fact that OpenAI's VP of Global Policy, Ann O'Leary, is directly involved makes the corporate fingerprints impossible to miss.

Josh Golin, executive director of FairPlay, one of the groups that refused to join, put it bluntly: "I want them to get out of the way and let advocates and parents and public health professionals whose charge is the well-being of children pass the legislation they think is best for kids. I don't want OpenAI to write their own rules for how they interact with children."

Context Makes This Worse

OpenAI is currently facing at least eight lawsuits alleging ChatGPT contributed to user deaths, including a 16-year-old California boy who died by suicide. More than 20 states proposed legislation last year to regulate children's use of AI. A federal bill passed out of a House committee last month.

OpenAI's lobbyists also actively opposed a California bill last year that would have tightly restricted kids' access to AI chatbots. Governor Newsom vetoed it and passed weaker regulations instead. When Common Sense Media filed a ballot initiative to push stronger protections directly to voters, OpenAI co-filed a competing measure. Now they are trying to get the Legislature to adopt their version.

The Take

This is a company that just raised $122 billion, is generating $2 billion in monthly revenue, and is actively rolling out ads inside ChatGPT. It is also a company being sued for contributing to a teenager's death. And its strategy for child safety legislation is to secretly build a fake coalition to endorse the rules it wrote for itself.

The irony is brutal. OpenAI's stated mission is to ensure AI benefits all of humanity. Its actual behavior is to ensure AI regulation benefits OpenAI specifically. The nonprofits pulling out understood immediately what this was. The question is whether California legislators will too.